Lawmakers took aim at Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after an explosive Wall Street Journal report that the United States had lost its measles elimination status after 26 years, criticizing his leadership.
“This was unnecessary,” Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) wrote on Saturday.
The United States was initially recognized as having eliminated the preventable disease in 2000. However, following several widespread cases across the United States, sources told The Wall Street Journal that the Pan American Health Organization, an agency within the World Health Organization, had revoked the country’s elimination status.
A source close to the decision process also confirmed to CNN on Friday that the health organization had revoked the United States’ measles elimination status. Researchers with direct knowledge of the decision also confirmed the change in status to KFF Health News.
The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to HuffPost when asked to confirm the reported status change and comment.
However, CDC Director Erica Schwartz said Reuters in an interview published Tuesday that if the United States loses its measles elimination status, “we’re going to do exactly the same thing we did today, which is work with the states.”
The decision announced by the Pan American Health Organization would also mean the United States would join Canada, Spain and the United Kingdom in losing this status.
Following the Journal’s report, several lawmakers and medical professionals spoke out in full criticism of the health secretary, a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has boasted about the Trump administration’s public health overhaul.
One of those lawmakers was Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) who chastised RFK Jr., calling the news “shameful.”
Others criticized the health secretary.
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